Newton STFC-NARIT: Capacity Building Towards TeV Energy Frontiers with the Cherenkov Telescope Array

Newton STFC-NARIT：利用切伦科夫望远镜阵列实现 TeV 能源前沿的能力建设

• 批准号: ST/T007176/1
• 负责人: Paula Chadwick
• 金额: $ 9.64万
• 依托单位: Durham University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ST%2FT007176%2F1
• 关键词: Newton; STFC; NARIT; Capacity; Building

Gamma rays are the most energetic kind of radiation used by astronomers - around a million times more energetic than X-rays. We are protected by the Earth's atmosphere from this energetic radiation, but we are still able to see its effects on the ground. Each gamma-ray creates a cascade of sub-atomic particles in the atmosphere, which produces the light-speed equivalent of a sonic boom - a flash of blue light called Cherenkov radiation. This light is faint (about 1/10000th of the total starlight) and each flash lasts only a few billionths of a second, but with enough large telescopes, we can detect it and work out where this extraordinary radiation comes from (generally black holes and the remains of dead stars!).Astronomers and engineers from 31 countries are currently in the process of designing and building a new array of telescopes to detect gamma-rays; the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). Two of the countries involved in this project are the UK and Thailand. While the UK has been in the project since it started, Thailand joined in 2015, and the aim of this project is to work together to enable the astronomers and engineers in Thailand to strengthen their contribution to CTA. This, in turn, will help the project as a whole progress and enable further scientific co-operation between the UK and Thai researchers involved, to the benefit of all parties.There are three strands to this project. The first is to combine the expertise in mirror technology at Durham University with the expertise at NARIT in Thailand, with the aim of NARIT's being able to provide a mirror facility for CTA that will oat, characterize, qualify and maintain CTA's mirrors - as there will be over 5000 of them, this is quite a challenge, which will be best met by combining our efforts. Secondly, while the Thai astronomers have a lot of experience in analyzing astronomical data, they do not have any experience in analyzing gamma-ray data. The team at Durham has the most experience of anyone in the UK in this aspect of the project, and they will help the Thai astronomers learn to analyze gamma-ray data so that they will be able to benefit scientifically from the data that CTA will bring us in a few years' time. Finally, we are planning to create material that will teach schoolchildren and the general public about CTA, particularly by translating current CTA outreach material into Thai.

伽马射线是天文学家使用的能量最高的辐射，大约是X射线的一百万倍。我们受到地球大气层的保护，免受这种高能辐射的影响，但我们仍然能够看到它对地面的影响。每条伽马射线都会在大气中产生一系列亚原子粒子，从而产生相当于音爆的光速--一种被称为切伦科夫辐射的蓝光。这种光是微弱的（约为总星光的万分之一），每次闪光仅持续数十亿分之一秒，但有足够大的望远镜，我们可以检测到它，并找出这种非凡的辐射来自哪里（通常是黑洞和死亡恒星的残骸！）。来自31个国家的天文学家和工程师目前正在设计和建造一个新的望远镜阵列来探测伽马射线;切伦科夫望远镜阵列（CTA）。参与该项目的两个国家是英国和泰国。虽然英国从一开始就参与了该项目，但泰国于2015年加入，该项目的目的是共同努力，使泰国的天文学家和工程师能够加强他们对CTA的贡献。这反过来将有助于整个项目的进展，并使英国和泰国研究人员能够进一步开展科学合作，使各方受益。首先是将达勒姆大学的镜像技术专业知识与泰国NARIT的专业知识联合收割机结合起来，目的是使NARIT能够为CTA提供镜像设施，以使CTA的镜像具有燕麦、特性、资格和维护能力-因为CTA的镜像将超过5000个，这是一个相当大的挑战，通过我们的共同努力，这将得到最好的解决。其次，虽然泰国天文学家在分析天文数据方面有很多经验，但他们没有任何分析伽马射线数据的经验。达勒姆的团队在该项目的这方面拥有英国最丰富的经验，他们将帮助泰国天文学家学习分析伽马射线数据，以便他们能够从CTA在几年内带给我们的数据中科学地受益。最后，我们正计划制作材料，向学童和公众介绍CTA，特别是将目前CTA的宣传材料翻译成泰语。